Economic Growth Related to Mutually Interdependent Institutions and Technology

Richard Lipsey ()
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Richard Lipsey: Simon Fraser University, http://www.sfu.ca/~rlipsey

Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University

Abstract: The following propositions are argued. Technological advance is a necessary condition for sustained economic growth. It can be sustained by more then one set of institutions. Technology and institutions co-evolve. Although some institutions inhibit growth while others encourage it, no single institution is either necessary or sufficient to produce either sustained or zero growth. Sustained growth began with the two Industrial Revolutions and was solidified by the 'invention of how to invent'. Explaining these events requires studying several trajectories that were established in the medieval period and evolved slowly through the early modern period and were unique to the West.

Keywords: Sustained growth; institutions; technological change; technological trajectories; the Industrial Revolutions; early modern science; medieval universities. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ifn
Date: 2008-07

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